So you want to try Linux...
Friday, 11. July 2008, 08:31:47
With Microsoft's latest OS, Vista, being a disappointment for many, and Apple still pushing the boundaries of what they can charge people for Macs, the Linux community has worked hard to become much more polished and attractive, sensing an opportunity to reclaim some ground from the monolithic MS.
It's a particularly good choice for PC owners fed up with XP's eccentricities and reluctant to buy a whole new system to cope with Vista's bloated running requirements; Linux works on any common retail hardware, be it brand new or ten years old. 18 months ago I took a very good look at Vista and didn't much like what I saw. Nor was I ready to run out and buy a new PC as my then 3-year old system was still running perfectly well (She's still doing a fabulous job with only the very latest games making her struggle). Vista to me represented a huge expense for very little gain, the very antithesis of what computers should be all about.
Enter Linux.
Back then I had to do much of the leg-work myself; lots of google searching: reading of various websites, of various lengths and quality: looking up terminology and jargon...but if I'd had all the information I needed in one place then things might have proceeeded much more quickly.
So it's good thing my friend Pariah has come up with just such a website.
Designed for the absolute beginner (She's not far away from being one of those herself!) she has obviously thought long and hard about what information she could have benefitted from, and has written very clear and concise step-by-step guides based on those experiences. I'm thoroughly impressed with how she's covered every aspect of what a newcomer will need to get started, and what they need to know to help them settle in to what can be a very different and unusual experience compared to Window's unhelpful mollycoddling. She has also tried and reviewed a dozen of the multitude of different Linux distributions available; because of her own low system specs she's chosen some of the lesser-known distros but this works in her favour as you won't have any trouble finding reviews of the big names elsewhere.
If you are thinking of giving Linux a whirl, for whatever reason, you could do a lot worse than pay her site a visit.
(NB: At the moment it's a work-in-progress but there's already a wealth of information there - enjoy!)
It's a particularly good choice for PC owners fed up with XP's eccentricities and reluctant to buy a whole new system to cope with Vista's bloated running requirements; Linux works on any common retail hardware, be it brand new or ten years old. 18 months ago I took a very good look at Vista and didn't much like what I saw. Nor was I ready to run out and buy a new PC as my then 3-year old system was still running perfectly well (She's still doing a fabulous job with only the very latest games making her struggle). Vista to me represented a huge expense for very little gain, the very antithesis of what computers should be all about.
Enter Linux.
Back then I had to do much of the leg-work myself; lots of google searching: reading of various websites, of various lengths and quality: looking up terminology and jargon...but if I'd had all the information I needed in one place then things might have proceeeded much more quickly.
So it's good thing my friend Pariah has come up with just such a website.
Designed for the absolute beginner (She's not far away from being one of those herself!) she has obviously thought long and hard about what information she could have benefitted from, and has written very clear and concise step-by-step guides based on those experiences. I'm thoroughly impressed with how she's covered every aspect of what a newcomer will need to get started, and what they need to know to help them settle in to what can be a very different and unusual experience compared to Window's unhelpful mollycoddling. She has also tried and reviewed a dozen of the multitude of different Linux distributions available; because of her own low system specs she's chosen some of the lesser-known distros but this works in her favour as you won't have any trouble finding reviews of the big names elsewhere.
If you are thinking of giving Linux a whirl, for whatever reason, you could do a lot worse than pay her site a visit.
(NB: At the moment it's a work-in-progress but there's already a wealth of information there - enjoy!)
(NB: Mandriva still only have the Firefox 2 series in their repositories, even though Firefox 3 is almost finished and is wonderfully fast and stable. When Mandriva get around to including 3, probably after release, I may have to re-evaluate the browser situation...!)
WIDGETIZE